Behind Polite Smiles.

Kate sat at the reserved table, swirling a glass of water around loosely in her hand. The establishment was garnished with red & orange, a faint sense of class aired itself around like the smells of the finely cooked Italian dishes that poured from the kitchen doors in masses of spaghetti & sauces of all kinds of rich flavors. The tables positioned east to west where covered in a burnt orange colored table cloth & each was adorned with a single rose in a flute glass. Kate’s was a table for two in the corner, nearest the window, where the blackened streets loomed outwards into the depths of the streets beyond. Cars flashed passed, their light blinding for a second, then went by. No noise however came through. She felt disconnected from the rest of the world right now, the relative quiet of the restaurant calmed her as if she where meditating. She enjoyed the peace, until, five minutes late, a figure burst through the door. Flustered & confused it came stumbling towards her, a coat flung from its back & landed on the chair in front of her & it flopped onto the seat.
“Hi, I thought I would be late.” He panted heavily & wiped a little sweat from his brow. His face still covered a little with the shadow of his seating position, she saw only his silhouette against the window as the cars continues to race by.
“You are late.” She spoke dryly & without feeling. She took a swig of her water & continued. “So, you must know why I asked you out tonight?” She sat, facing him dead on, staring into his darkened face.
He moved his body slightly, making his face visible. A nervous sweat built up on his top lip & his eyes darted from place to place frantically, searching for a safe area to look. She studied his new visage closer & in more detail than she could before. His almost white hair dominated his head & it flowed down to the very tip of his shoulders. Locks hung down in front of his left eye & they swept back behind his ear. She noticed his eyes had widened a little, but their color remained, the Mediterranean blue sparkling deep within had not lost it presence. The sparse acne that one adorned his jaw & cheeks was gone completely & not even a trace of it was left. He had grown handsome & the innocence hidden behind it made a soft glow to him when he smiled wryly.
They talked for a while, first about their friends & then school. He did everything he could to keep away from the part of the conversation that would eventually turn to enquire about his dramatic transformation. The other boy told him to stay away from talking of it as it would mean that she would be concentrating on that instead of the important things he needed to say.
The light of the restaurant bathed them in an almost radiant glow as they say, eye to eye. He had been talking about their group of friends & something had cropped up. Something about maybe liking others more than friends. He began to sweat more than he usually would & his face went a red color instantly.
“Urm…Are you OK? You look kinda ill.” She seemed marginally concerned. Her eyes showed signs of a caring nature glowing through; he felt comforted, maybe enough to confess.
He gulped once & began to speak calmly & slowly. A mannerism of him she had not seen before. His new face could not disguise the trauma that had fell upon it as his mouth moved rhythmically.
“I have…er…had a…well…” His words would not form properly as he spoke plummeted out from behind his lips. Kate sat & shook her head. A look of disappointment came over her as she did it. She looked up at the ceiling & then down at the table.
“I cannot believe you are doing this to me!” She stood up forcefully, nearly made the table fall over on top of him. Flinging her coat over her shoulder, she said, rather unfeelingly towards him.
“I can’t do this with you now. Just because you changed your face you instantly think I will take you. You really do have issues.”
He was left sat, alone again. He knew this song, the silence that surrounded his as he held his head in his hands & wept. The tears stained the cloth where they fell. Noised came from the other side of the restaurant as someone moved around the seated customers. The sound of a heel echoed up from the floor & shivered up the table leg & eventually into his ear.
“Hey, are you Ok?” A soothing, but stern voice asked him. Sympathy dripped from it as it spoke gently to him. He tilted his head a little upward & noticed a familiar reddened curl lying on the table top there the person leaned down to his level. If his hair wasn’t in his face he could have seen who it was. But he hadn’t the will to pull it away, & so he simply sat, listening.
“You’re that guy from college, right?” The voice continued to drift into his ears. A hand came across towards him & rested atop of his. “Are you OK? You look really upset.”
He mumbled under his breath a story of what had happened. It sounded completely unintelligible to the outside world, but he understood everything. He closed his eyes tightly, tried to dry the few remnant tears from the corners of his eyes.
“Look, Mr. ‘Ohnoifeelsosorryformyself’, you are not sitting here for ever for two very good reasons; one, I’m going to take you around town for a bit…” She lifted his head by his chin & wiped those leftover tears away for good. “…and…well…there’s a large man over there that has a reservation, so…you coming, or not?”
He could look at her properly now. As he’s guessed, it was Lucretia. She stood up & over him, her usual outfit clung to her like liquid while she crossed her arms & tapped her foot.
The whole restaurant had fallen silent & every person in it looked towards him. They stared at him where he sat, almost willing him up from his seat & out of the building.
Lucretia held out a hand & winked. “C’mon. I promise. All you need is a little cheering up.”
He slowly put his hand out. His resistance failed & his senses dulled, he felt like a robot following the orders of it master. He stepped behind her blindly & proceeded out of the establishment with her.
As they reached the centre of the street, she stopped suddenly. A sharp stance told him something was wrong. “Hey, I just realized, I don’t even know your name. So…?”
He wriggled in his skin as she asked him, He hated his name with a passion that some could be envious of.
“My name…” He stuttered as he spoke & his voice warbled a little. “…Is…Ephraim. Go ahead, laugh.” He braced himself for it, the humiliating sound of her laughter that would add to his current sorrows.
She began to walk on. Her hair still flicked behind her & she swayed her hips alluringly. He was surprised; shocked even. He ran up beside her, but kept silent.
They walked on until the end of the street, where she finally became discontent.
Turning & looking at him as he remained silent still, she tilted her head in question.
“Where do you want to even go?” She asked him. Her head still tilted in position.
He looked around for an answer. Deep inside him felt very uncomfortable. His wasn’t sure what he should do or why Lucretia even wanted to be around him. He looked down at his chuck tailors & wondered where they could take them on this misty & dark night. Thinking still, he rubbed his hands together & pondered. Lucretia however, had grown bored of waiting, grabbed his arm & began to drag him towards the park.
They shared some information about themselves on the way there. Lucretia had just turned eighteen a week ago. She lived with her parents in a large hose in the more expensive area of town & her natural hair color was black. Lucretia however found it much more difficult to get anything from Ephraim.
All she knew is that he was a very nervous individual & also lived with his mother. Other than that, all she could tell otherwise is that he was well proportioned, was about five foot nine & his voice was sultry & low.
Once they reached the park she decided that she needed him to loosen up. As a student of psychology she could interpret his expressions & play them to get him to open up. She could see how troubled he was… & how angry he was deep down.
“Hey. Wanna go climbing?” At that moment she kicked off her boots & began to climb the relatively small structure. He watched her on her accent. A streetlamp illuminated her from behind, making her silhouette look almost biblical. She beckoned him up as she stood, hands wide, embracing the slight breeze that spun its way around the leaves of the trees that segregated the park from the rest of the town.
He shook his head nervously. He was still a very reserved person, no matter how he tried to suppress it.
He heard the voice ring in his head & a sharp noise flooded in through his ears. “Go…fool!”
Again he felt compelled to do so, the inner boy willed him to climb up to the very top.
There, he took in the view of the park. Although he was only an extra six feet higher, he felt powerful, in control, the debris of the children who played here his minions at his rally. Lucretia took out a small device, turned a switch on it. Her voice came gushing out from it bathed the area in her sweet lyrics. She sang along, became very involved in the song. She turned to him & started to mouth the words to him. “Come on sing…you know you wanna!” She began to fiddle with her hands for a moment as her band jumped in playing drums & guitars. He watcher her fidget as the mimicked playing the drums & also started to play air guitar.
After a while, she stopped. “Do you not like my music or something…you aren’t even tapping your foot?”
He stuttered quickly in response. “No-no-no! Its just not my style. You know.”
She turned her music off.
“What you got then?” She asked, tapping her foot on the steel bar.
He was hesitant, but dragged a black device from his back pocket, flicked it on & handed it to Lucretia.
“You pick…please.”
She scrolled down the list, reading out artist’s names as she went.
“Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Marilyn Manson…you really are strange, erm, my chemical romance, AH! Greenday! I like that idea.” She turned to him for a second & then went back to the tiny screen as it lit her face up in the darkness. She clicked on a song & it began to blast from the little box in her hand. He sang along also this time. They both stood, with the wind on their backs, on top of the climbing frame, their hair swaying from side to side as they executed the same head movements where they bopped & danced along. They competed in competitions of who could do the best air guitar & whose rock face was best, long until even the moon had receded behind the gathering clouds.